Man Charged In August Slaying Of Chicago Ridge Teen

CHICAGO (STMW) — Bond was denied Saturday for a 19-year-old man charged with the fatal shooting of a Chicago Ridge girl in August in the Southwest Side McKinley Park neighborhood.

Joseph Sanders, 19, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 18 shooting in the 2400 block of West 35th Street — the same block where he lived, police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said.

Taylor Diorio, a 17-year-old Chicago Ridge girl, was in a vehicle about 5:05 a.m. when Sanders allegedly walked up and opened fire, leaving her with a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.

Diorio, of the 10000 block of Major Avenue, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she died at 3:29 p.m., authorities said. She was to begin her senior year at Richards High School three days later.

She was one of at least six people killed in separate shootings in Chicago that weekend from late Friday into Sunday morning, authorities said. Thirty-six others were wounded.

Richards High School Principal John Hallberg extended “deepest sympathies” to Diorio’s family.

“We can only guess what the future could have held for her. Like all young people her age, Taylor possessed great possibility,” Hallberg said. “Along with her friends at Richards, we mourn her loss and will keep her family in our thoughts and prayers.”

Bond was denied at a hearing on Saturday at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse in Chicago, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office. Sanders’ next court appearance is scheduled for Monday at 26th and California.